Nicopolis

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

(Νικόπολις, ‘City of victory’)

In days of almost constant warfare, when many triumphs had to be commemorated, this was a favourite name for newly founded cities. T. Zahn enumerates no fewer than nine Nicopoleis (Introd. to NT, Eng. translation, 1909, ii. 53 f.), of which one in Cappadocia, a second in Egypt, and a third in Thrace had some importance. Chrysostom and Theodoret took the last of these to be the place referred to in  Titus 3:12. But by far the most famous Nicopolis was the city in Epirus which Augustus founded after the battle of Actium. He intended it to be ‘at once a permanent memorial of the great naval victory and the centre of a newly flourishing Hellenic life’ (T. Mommsen, Provinces of Rom. Empire, new ed., 1909, i. 295). It was laid out where the victor’s headquarters had been stationed just before the battle, at the narrowest part of the promontory which separates the Ambracian Gulf from the Ionian Sea. Augustus peopled it, after the fashion set by Alexander’s successors, by uniting the inhabitants of a large number of minor townships in one great urban domain. He made it a free city like Athens or Sparta, and instituted so-called Actian Games, which he put on the same level as the four ancient Hellenic festivals. Nicopolis became the foremost city of Western Greece, and (at some uncertain date) the capital of the new province of Epirus. Tacitus calls it urbem Achaiae (Ann. ii. 53, for the year a.d. 18), but Epictetus, its most famous citizen (born c.[Note: . circa, about.]a.d. 60), speaks of an ἐπίτροπος Ἠπείρου residing in Nicopolis and governing the land (Diss. III. iv. 1).

It was natural that St. Paul should sooner or later think of this splendid Graeco-Roman city and its neighbourhood as a field for evangelistic work. In an epistolary fragment which has been preserved, he bids Titus, who has been labouring in Crete, give diligence to join him at Nicopolis, as he has decided to winter there ( Titus 3:12). Some Manuscriptsof the epistle (A and P) have the subscription, ‘It was written from Nicopolis,’ and these are followed by the Greek commentators (Chrys. Theod. et al.); but the Apostle would have said ὧδε, not ἐκεῖ, if he had been actually writing in the city. It has been generally assumed that St. Paul, after being acquitted by his Roman judges, resumed his labours in the East, and that his letter summoning Titus to Nicopolis belongs to this period. It has further been conjectured that the Apostle made his way, as he intended, to Nicopolis, and that his second arrest took place there (Conybeare-Howson, St. Paul, new ed., 1877, ii. 571 f.). But the evidence for a release is far from convincing, and the question arises whether the Nicopolis episode can be fitted into his biography without this doubtful ‘final phase.’ In reference to  Titus 3:12 f., H. von Soden says: ‘This is all intelligible in itself and as a part of the life of St. Paul, and the fulness of particulars gives an impression of authenticity’ (The History of Early Christian Literature, Eng. translation, 1906, p. 316). It seems certain that Titus’ work in Crete ( Titus 1:5) cannot have begun till after the writing of 2 Cor., for he was occupied with the settlement of difficulties in the Corinthian Church. But St. Paul may have visited the island with his fellow-worker, and left him to labour there, shortly before his final visit to Corinth. As regards  Acts 20:2, it has been suggested that the writer knew very little about the details of St. Paul’s life at the time to which this passage refers (A. C. McGiffert, A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, 1897, p. 411 n.[Note: . note.]), and a short campaign in Crete may well have been one of his activities during that period. On this hypothesis, the letter to Titus, in its original, comparatively brief form, must have been written before St. Paul’s stay of three winter months in Corinth (20:3). Titus probably hastened, as directed, to Nicopolis, but some new turn of events prevented St. Paul from carrying out his purpose of wintering in that city, though he may have paid it a brief visit. Nothing is known about its actual evangelization, either at that time or later. After falling into decay, the city was restored by Julian; and Justinian repaired the havoc wrought by the Goths; but in the Middle Ages it was supplanted by Prevesa, three miles to the south. Its ruins are extensive.

James Strahan.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

NICOPOLIS , or the ‘city of victory,’ was founded by Augustus in b.c. 31, on the spot where he had had his camp before the battle of Actium. It was made a Roman colony, and was peopled by citizens drawn from various places in Acarnania and Ætolia.

In  Titus 3:12 Samt. Paul writes, ‘Give diligence to come unto me to Nicopolis; for there I have determined to winter.’ It may be taken as certain that this means Nicopolis in Epirus, from which doubtless St. Paul hoped to begin the evangelization of that province. No other city of the name was in such a position, or so important as to claim six months of the Apostle’s time.

The importance of Nicopolis depended partly on the ‘Actian games,’ partly on some commerce and fisheries. It was destroyed by the Goths, and, though restored by Justinian, it was supplanted in the Middle Ages by Prevesa, which grew up a little farther south. There are extensive ruins on its site.

A. E. Hillard.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Nicop'olis. (City Of Victory). Nicopolis is mentioned in  Titus 3:12, as the place where St. Paul was intending to pass the coming winter. Nothing is to be found in the Epistle itself to determine which Nicopolis is here intended. One Nicopolis was in Thrace, near the borders of Macedonia.

The subscription, (which, however, is of no authority), fixes on this place, calling it the Macedonian Nicopolis. But there is little doubt that Jerome's view is correct, and that the Pauline Nicopolis was the celebrated city of Epirus . This city, (the "City Of Victory" ), was built by Augustus, in memory the battle of Actium. It was on a peninsula, to the west of the bay of Actium .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Nicopolis ( Nî-Cŏp'O-Lĭs ), City Of Victory. There were many ancient cities which bore this name: three in particular have been supposed by different critics the one meant.  Titus 3:12. One of these was in the northeastern corner of Cilicia; another on the Nessus in the interior of Thrace; the third in Epirus (though Pliny assigns it to Acarnania). This last, most probably the Nicopolis intended by Paul, was built by Augustus in commemoration of his victory at Actium.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A city where Paul spent probably the last winter of his life, having previously written to Titus, at Crete, to meet him there,  Titus 3:12 . He is supposed to refer to the Nicopolis of Thrace, situated on the river Nestus, near the borders of Macedonia, and hence called, in the subscription to the epistle, Nicopolis of Macedonia. Others, however, suppose him to have meant Nicopolis in Epirus, which stood near the mouth of the Ambracian gulf, opposite to Actium, and which was built by Augustus in honor of his decisive victory over Antony.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("city of victory".) In Epirus, founded by Augustus to celebrate his victory at Actium. On a peninsula W. of the bay of Actium.  Titus 3:12 was written from Corinth in the autumn, Paul then purposing a journey through Aetolia and Acarnania into "Epirus," there "to winter"; a good center for missionary tours N. to Illyricum ( Romans 15:19) and Dalmatia ( 2 Timothy 4:10).

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a city of Epirus, on the gulf of Ambracia, whither, as some think, St. Paul wrote to Titus, then in Crete, to come to him,  Titus 3:12; but others, with greater probability, are of opinion, that the city of Nicopolis, where St. Paul was, was not that of Epirus, but that of Thrace, on the borders of Macedonia, near the river Nessus. Emmaus in Palestine was also called Nicopolis by the Romans.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Place where Paul purposed to winter and where Titus was to meet him.  Titus 3:12 . The subscription to the epistle refers to the city of Nicopolis of Macedonia; but this has no authority, it was probably the city founded by Augustus on a peninsula in Epirus in Greece. Its ruins are now called Paleoprevesa, 39 N, 20 44' E.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

From hence Paul wrote to Titus. (See  Titus 3:12) It was a province in Macedonia.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Titus 3:12

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Titus 3:12

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ni - kop´ṓ - lis ( Νικόπολις , Nikópolis ): A city in Palestine, half-way between Jaffa and Jerusalem, now called Ammās , mentioned in   1 Maccabees 3:40,57,9:50 . The earlier city (Emmaus) was burnt by Quintilius Varus, but was rebuilt in 223 Ad as Nicopolis.

The Nicopolis, however, to which Paul urges Titus to come ( πρός με εἰς Νικόπολιν , ἐκεῖ γὰρ κέκρικα παραχειμάσαι , prós me eis Nikópolin , ekeı́ gár kékrika paracheimásai (  Titus 3:12 )) is probably the city of that name situated on the southwest promontory of Epirus. If this view is correct, the statement made by some writers that from Eastern Greece (Athens, Thessalonica, Philippi, Corinth) Paul's labors extended to Italy, that he never visited Western Greece, requires modification. It is true that we do not hear of his preaching at Patras, Zacynthus, Cephallenia, Corcyra (the modern Corfu), which, as a way-station to and from Sicily, always held preeminence among the Ionian islands; but there can be little doubt that, if his plan of going to Nicopolis was carried out, he desired to evangelize the province of Epirus (as well Acarnania) in Western Greece. Indeed, it was in this very city of Nicopolis, probably, that he was arrested and taken to Rome for trial - during one of the winters between 64-67 AD.

Nicopolis was situated only a few miles North of the modern Prevesa, the chief city of Epirus today, the city which the Greeks bombarded in 1912 in the hope of wresting it from the Turks. The ancient city was founded by Augustus, whose camp happened to be pitched there the night before the famous fight with Antony (31 BC). The gulf, called Ambracia in ancient times, is now known as Arta. On the south side was Actium, where the battle was fought. Directly across, only half mile distant, on the northern promontory, was the encampment of Augustus. To commemorate the victory over his antagonist, the Roman emperor built a city on the exact spot where his army had encamped ("Victory City"). On the hill now called Michalitzi, on the site of his own tent, he built a temple to Neptune and instituted games in honor of Apollo, who was supposed to have helped him in the sea-fight. Nicopolis soon became the metropolis of Epirus, with an autonomous constitution, according to Greek custom. But in the time of the emperor Julian (362) the city had fallen into decay, at least in part. It was plundered by the Goths, restored by Justinian, and finally disappeared entirely in the Middle Ages, so far as the records of history show. One document has Νικόπολις ἡ νῦν Πρέβαζα , Nikopólis hē nún Prébeza , "Nicopolis, which is now Prebeza." In the time of Augustus, however, Nicopolis was a flourishing town. The emperor concentrated here the population of Aetolia and Acarnania, and made the city a leading member of the Amphictyonic Council. There are considerable ruins of the ancient city, including two theaters, a stadium, an aqueduct, etc.

Literature.

Kuhn, Ueber die Entstehung der staate der Alten .

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Nicop´olis, a city of Thrace, now Nicopi on the river Nessus, now Karasou, which was here the boundary between Thrace and Macedonia; and hence the city is sometimes reckoned as belonging to the latter. In , Paul expresses an intention to winter at Nicopolis, an invites Titus, then in Crete, to join him there.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Nicopolis'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/n/nicopolis.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.